Hi!
Stanford was my top school coming into the fall of senior year. I was also deciding whether it was worth it to apply to another school like Princeton or Harvard which are still very competitive but have a higher acceptance rate for SCEA or REA. In the end, I decided to apply to Harvard early with the hope the chances were in my favor. Luckily they did, and I thought that applying RD to Stanford would be impossible, but I had a fear of missing out since Stanford was a dream for such a long time. I say you can’t go wrong with whatever school you choose. If you are a truly unique candidate, you will stick out whether it’s REA or RD. I don’t have any serious achievements like international awards or cured cancer, but I received a likely letter from Stanford. There are a lot of kids who were accepted to other top-tier schools who will apply to other top-tier schools so the RD round is still very competitive. Many kids who apply REA also are applying on a whim since they believe they have a better chance, but if you judge competition for just quality of the applicants, then I would say there isn’t much of a difference, if not there is more competition but also more kids who are applying for the sake of applying. If Stanford is your top choice by far, then apply to Stanford early. If you are considering other schools and are fine with going to them, it may be in your favor to apply to those schools instead. I am very fortunate for things to work out both ways, but this could also happen to you. Best of luck!!!